Digital object routing based on a service request

ABSTRACT

A digital object may be routed via a network. Routing of a digital object may be based in part on a requested service, and/or on an ability of an intermediate node to provide the requested service, and/or on a willingness of the intermediate node to provide the requested service.

BACKGROUND

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to transmitting digitalobjects in a network. Information exchange networks such as the Internetcouple multiple host computing platforms wherein data may be exchangedbetween two or more computing platforms. For example, a source nodecoupled to such a network may send a digital object from the source nodeto a destination node located somewhere on the network. Where thenetwork includes the Internet, for example, the source node may connectto the Internet via a first Internet Service Provider (ISP), and theremote node may likewise connect to the Internet via a second InternetService Provider. Multiple intermediary nodes may be coupled to theInternet that may receive the digital object and forward it on toanother intermediary node until the digital object reaches thedestination node. Such forwarding of a digital object may occur using anInternet Protocol (IP) which specifies a format in which the digitalobject may be transferred as packet data, and the addressing scheme toroute the digital object in the form of data packets through theInternet to the source node. Furthermore, a network such as the Internetmay additionally utilize a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) toestablish a connection between a source node and a destination node.Using such a TCP/IP protocol, data packets are routed automatically byintermediary nodes to a destination IP address without regard to theavailable services a given node may provide and/or without regard tocompensation based on the services provides.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

Claimed subject matter is particularly pointed out and distinctlyclaimed in the concluding portion of the specification. However, both asto organization and/or method of operation, together with objects,features, and/or advantages thereof, may best be understood by referenceto the following detailed description when read with the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a network to route a digital object onaccordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a router in accordance with one or moreembodiments;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of network that may be utilized to transmit adigital object to two or more nodes and/or destination nodes inaccordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a method for routing a digital object inaccordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a method for forwarding a digital object ona network based at least in part on available services where theavailable services may be changing over time in accordance with one ormore embodiments;

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram of the routing of a digital object via anetwork in accordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a network for transmitting a digital objectfrom a source node to a destination node where the destination nodeand/or the destination node requests the digital object to be sent inaccordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of a method for transmitting a digital objectfrom a source node to a destination node where the source node and/orthe destination node requests the digital object to be sent inaccordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 9 is block diagram of a wireless network in accordance with or moreembodiments; and

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of a method for routing two or more digitalobjects in accordance with one or more embodiments.

It will be appreciated that for simplicity and/or clarity ofillustration, elements illustrated in the figures have not necessarilybeen drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elementsmay be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, ifconsidered appropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among thefigures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are setforth to provide a thorough understanding of claimed subject matter.However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that claimedsubject matter may be practiced without these specific details. In otherinstances, well-known methods, procedures, components and/or circuitshave not been described in detail.

Some portions of the detailed description that follows are presented interms of algorithms, programs and/or symbolic representations ofoperations on data bits or binary digital signals within a computermemory, for example. These algorithmic descriptions and/orrepresentations may include techniques used in the data processing artsto convey the arrangement of a computer system and/or other informationhandling system to operate according to such programs, algorithms,and/or symbolic representations of operations.

An algorithm may be generally considered to be a self-consistentsequence of acts and/or operations leading to a desired result. Theseinclude physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, thoughnot necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical and/ormagnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined,compared, and/or otherwise manipulated. It may be convenient at times,principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals asbits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers and/or thelike. However, these and/or similar terms may be associated with theappropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels appliedto these quantities.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, as apparent from the followingdiscussions, throughout the specification discussion utilizing termssuch as processing, computing, calculating, determining, and/or thelike, refer to the action and/or processes of a computer and/orcomputing system, and/or similar electronic computing device, thatmanipulate or transform data represented as physical, such aselectronic, quantities within the registers and/or memories of thecomputer and/or computing system and/or similar electronic and/orcomputing device into other data similarly represented as physicalquantities within the memories, registers and/or other such informationstorage, transmission and/or display devices of the computing systemand/or other information handling system.

Embodiments claimed may include apparatuses for performing theoperations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for thedesired purposes, or it may comprise a general purpose computing deviceselectively activated and/or configured by a program stored in thedevice. Such a program may be stored on a storage medium, such as, butis not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, opticaldisks, CD-ROMs, magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs),random access memories (RAMs), electrically programmable read-onlymemories (EPROMs), electrically erasable and/or programmable read onlymemories (EEPROMs), flash memory, magnetic and/or optical cards, and/orany other type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions,and/or capable of being coupled to a system bus for a computing deviceand/or other information handling system.

The processes and/or displays presented herein are not inherentlyrelated to any particular computing device and/or other apparatus.Various general purpose systems may be used with programs in accordancewith the teachings herein, or a more specialized apparatus may beconstructed to perform the desired method. The desired structure for avariety of these systems will appear from the description below. Inaddition, embodiments are not described with reference to any particularprogramming language. A variety of programming languages may be used toimplement the teachings described herein.

In the following description and/or claims, the terms coupled and/orconnected, along with their derivatives, may be used. In particularembodiments, connected may be used to indicate that two or more elementsare in direct physical and/or electrical contact with each other.Coupled may mean that two or more elements are in direct physical and/orelectrical contact. However, coupled may also mean that two or moreelements may not be in direct contact with each other, but yet may stillcooperate and/or interact with each other. Furthermore, the term and/ormay mean and, it may mean or, it may mean exclusive-or, it may mean one,it may mean some but not all, it may mean neither, and/or it may meanboth, although the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited inthis respect.

Certain embodiments may be used in a variety of applications. Althoughthe claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect, the circuitsdisclosed herein may be used in many apparatuses such as in thetransmitters and/or receivers of a radio system. Radio systems intendedto be included within the scope of the claimed subject matter mayinclude, by way of example only, wireless personal area networks (WPAN)such as a network in compliance with the WiMedia Alliance, a wirelesslocal area networks (WLAN) devices and/or wireless wide area network(WWAN) devices including wireless network interface devices and/ornetwork interface cards (NICs), base stations, access points (APs),gateways, bridges, hubs, cellular radiotelephone communication systems,satellite communication systems, two-way radio communication systems,one-way pagers, two-way pagers, personal communication systems (PCS),personal computers (PCs), personal digital assistants (PDAs), and/or thelike, although the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited inthis respect.

Types of wireless communication systems intended to be within the scopeof the claimed subject matter may include, although are not limited to,Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN),Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) cellular radiotelephonecommunication systems, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)cellular radiotelephone systems, North American Digital Cellular (NADC)cellular radiotelephone systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)systems, Extended-TDMA (E-TDMA) cellular radiotelephone systems, thirdgeneration (3G) systems like Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA-2000, and/orthe like, although the scope of the claimed subject matter is notlimited in this respect.

Reference throughout this specification to one embodiment or anembodiment means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristicdescribed in connection with the embodiment is included in at least oneembodiment. Thus, the appearances of the phrase in one embodiment or anembodiment in various places throughout this specification are notnecessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, theparticular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined inone or more embodiments.

A network as referred to herein relates to infrastructure that iscapable of transmitting data among nodes which are coupled to thenetwork. For example, a network may comprise links capable oftransmitting data between nodes according to one or more datatransmission protocols. Such links may comprise one or more types oftransmission media and/or links capable of transmitting information froma source to a destination. However, these are merely examples of anetwork, and the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited inthis respect.

In the transmission of data in a data transmission network, a sourcenode may initiate transmission of data to one or more destination nodescoupled to the data transmission network. In one particular embodiment,although the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in thisrespect, a source node may initiate the transmission of data to thedestination node based, at least in part, upon a destination addressassociated with the destination node. According to a communicationprotocol of a particular embodiment, the source node may transmit datato the destination node in one or more data packets which are routed tothe destination node through the data transmission network based, atleast in part, on the destination address. However, these are merelyexamples of how data may be transmitted from a source node to adestination node in a network, and the scope of the claimed subjectmatter is not limited in these respects.

A node in a network may forward information to one or more other nodesin the data transmission network over data links. In one particularexample, a first node may forward information to a second node bytransmitting one or more data packets according to a communicationprotocol. Such data packets may comprise a header portion containing anaddress of an intended destination node and a payload containingforwarded information. If the second node is not the ultimate intendeddestination, the second node may also forward the data packets to athird node which comprises and/or is coupled to the ultimate intendeddestination node. However, these merely examples of how information maybe forwarded in a network, and the scope of the claimed subject matteris not limited in this respect.

A digital object as referred to herein relates to information that isorganized and/or formatted in a digitized form. For example, a digitalobject may comprise one or more documents, visual media and/or audiomedia, and/or combinations thereof. However, these are merely examplesof the types of information that may be maintained in a digital object,and the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in thisrespect. Such a digital object may be maintained in a compressed formatto enable efficient storage of the digital object in a storage mediumand/or transmission of the digital in a data transmission network. Inother embodiments, such a digital object may be encrypted fortransmission in a secure communication channel. In one particularembodiment, although the scope of the claimed subject matter is notlimited in this respect, a digital object may be compressed and/orformatted at a source node for transmission to one or more destinationnodes. Also, a digital object may be transmitted to one or moredestination nodes as one or more data packets routed to the one or moredata nodes according to a communication protocol. However, these aremerely examples of a digital object, and the scope of the claimedsubject matter is not limited in this respect. In one or moreembodiments, a digital object may comprise a digital data payload asdescribed in U.S. Pat. No. No. 6,199,054.

A bid as referred to herein relates to an expression of a proposal toperform a service. In one particular example, a customer and/or clientmay receive bids from more than one party competing for the business ofthe customer and/or client. A bid may specify terms under which aservice may be performed such as, for example, price, quality,timeliness and/or reliability. However, these are merely examples ofterms that may be expressed in a bid, and the scope of the claimedsubject matter is not limited in this respect. Also, in some commercialcontexts, acceptance of a bid by a customer and/or client may be bindingon the parties. In other commercial contexts, however, acceptance of abid by a customer and/or client, in and of itself, may not be binding.Here, additional actions by one or more parties may result in a bindingarrangement. It should be understood that these are merely examples of abid, and the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in thisrespect.

A bid request as referred to herein relates to an expression of aninvitation to provide a bid for performing a service. In one particularexample, such a bid request may specify a desired service to beperformed by a service provider. In some embodiments, the bid requestmay specify some of the terms, but not necessarily all of the terms,under which a desired service is to be performed. However, these aremerely examples of a bid request, and the scope of the claimed subjectmatter is not limited in this respect.

In response to receipt of a bid from a service provider for providing aservice, a potential customer and/or client may provide an acceptancemessage to the bidding service provider. Such an acceptance message mayexpress a willingness of the customer and/or client to receive servicesfrom the service provider according to at least some terms set forth inthe received bid. However, this is merely an example of an acceptancemessage, and the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited inthis respect.

In forwarding a digital object from a source node to a destination nodeover a network, equipment which is owned, leased, controlled and/oroperated by one or more intermediaries or intermediary parties mayforward at least a portion of the digital object over at least a portionof the network toward the destination node. As illustrated below, theterm intermediary may refer to a party that may forward a digital objectover at least a portion of the data transmission network and/orequipment that is owned, leased, controlled and/or operated by the partyfor performing this service.

Equipment that is owned, leased, controlled and/or maintained by anintermediary may comprise equipment that is capable of transmittinginformation to and/or receiving information from a data transmissionnetwork. Here, such equipment may comprise one or more communicationports capable of receiving information from a source node and/ortransmitting information to a destination node over one or more datatransmission mediums forming links in the network. Such a communicationport may be capable of transmitting and/or receiving information fromany one of several types of media such as, for example, cabling whichmay include optical, coaxial, unshielded twisted wire pair cabling, andso on, and/or wireless transmission media which may include terrestrialwireless transmission links or non-terrestrial vehicle links such asatmospheric vehicles, aquatic vehicle, and/or space vehicles. However,these are merely examples of a communication port that may coupleequipment which is owned, leased controlled and/or operated by anintermediary to a data transmission network, and the scope of theclaimed subject matter is not limited in this respect.

Instructions as referred to herein relate to expressions which representone or more logical operations. For example, instructions may bemachine-readable by being interpretable by a machine for executing oneor more operations on one or more data objects. However, this is merelyan example of instructions, and the scope of claimed subject matter isnot limited in this respect. In another example, instructions asreferred to herein may relate to encoded commands which are executableby a processing circuit having a command set which includes the encodedcommands. Such an instruction may be encoded in the form of a machinelanguage understood by the processing circuit. However, these are merelyexamples of an instruction, and the scope of the claimed subject matteris not limited in this respect.

A storage medium as referred to herein relates to media capable ofmaintaining expressions which are perceivable by one or more machines.For example, a storage medium may comprise one or more storage devicesfor storing machine-readable instructions and/or information. Suchstorage devices may comprise any one of several media types including,for example, magnetic, optical or semiconductor storage media. However,these are merely examples of a storage medium, and the scope of theclaimed subject matter is not limited in this respect.

Logic as referred to herein relates to structure -for performing one ormore logical operations. For example, logic may comprise circuitry whichprovides one or more output signals based upon one or more inputsignals. Such circuitry may comprise a finite state machine whichreceives a digital input and provides a digital output, or circuitrywhich provides one or more analog output signals in response to one ormore analog input signals. Such circuitry may be provided in anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or field programmablegate array (FPGA), for example. Also, logic may comprisemachine-readable instructions stored in a storage medium in combinationwith processing circuitry to execute such machine-readable instructions.However, these are merely examples of structures which may providelogic, and the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited inthis respect.

An agent as referred to herein relates to a process that executes on afirst device and is capable of communicating with a second device over anetwork. In one particular embodiment, for example, an agent process maycollect information associated with the first device and enabletransmission of the collected information to the second device. Inanother embodiment, an agent may receive control signals from the seconddevice to enable remote control of at least one aspect of the firstdevice. However, these are merely examples of how an agent may enablecommunication between devices, and the scope of the claimed subjectmatter is not limited in this respect. In another embodiment, an agentmay execute on a processor under the control of machine-readableinstructions stored on a storage medium. In another embodiment, an agentmay be executed on different types of structure that provide logic.However, these are merely examples of an agent, and the scope of theclaimed subject matter is not limited in this respect.

A Quality of Service (QoS) as referred to herein relates to acharacteristic of a data transmission service to provide data to arecipient within time constraints. A quality of service may refer to acharacteristic of a transmission control protocol/internet protocol(TCP/IP) type protocol, and/or a user datagram protocol/internetprotocol (UDP/IP) type protocol. In one or more embodiments, a qualityof service may refer to a threshold error transmission rate, for examplewhere one or more data packets may not arrive, and/or where one or moredata packets that do arrive may include one or more corrupted bits ofinformation. In one or more embodiments, a quality of service may referto where no errors and/or no error rate is acceptable, and/or to athreshold where the number of errors and/or the error rate may notexceed a predetermined value, and/or to a range within which a number oferrors and/or an error rate may be acceptable, although the scope ofclaimed subject matter is not limited in this respect. In a particularembodiment, for example, a QoS may be associated with the transmissionof a digital object from a source node to a destination node. Here, forexample, a QoS may specify that all or a portion of the digital objectarrive at the destination node within some time constraint. In anotherembodiment, a QoS may define, at least in part, an effective data rateat which a digital object is to be transmitted to the destination node.However, this is merely an example of how QoS may be applied in thetransmission of a digital object, and the scope of the claimed subjectmatter is not limited in this respect.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, as apparent from the followingdiscussion, it is appreciated that throughout this specificationdiscussions utilizing terms such as processing, computing, calculating,selecting, forming, enabling, inhibiting, identifying, initiating,receiving, transmitting, determining and/or the like refer to theactions and/or processes that may be performed by a computing platform,such as a computer or a similar electronic computing device, thatmanipulates and/or transforms data represented as physical electronicand/or magnetic quantities and/or other physical quantities within thecomputing platform's processors, memories, registers, and/or otherinformation storage, transmission, reception and/or display devices.Further, unless specifically stated otherwise, process described herein,with reference to flow diagrams or otherwise, may also be executedand/or controlled, in whole or in part, by such a computing platform.

Referring now to FIG. 1, block diagram of a network in accordance withone or more embodiments will be discussed. A source node 110 may coupleto an internet service provider (ISP) 112 that may provide source node110 with access to network 100. In one embodiment, network 100 mayinclude one or more nodes 114 on network 100 where a first node 114 maycommunicate with one or more other nodes 114 on network 100. In oneembodiment, network 100 may comprise the Internet, although the scope ofthe claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect. Internetservice provider 112 may provide source node 110 with access to network100 via one or more data transmission access technologies, for example,public switched telephone network (PSTN), digital subscriber line (DSL),coaxial cable or wireless access, for example, using satellite and/orterrestrial links. However, these are merely examples of how a node suchas source node 110 may obtain access to network 100, and the scope ofthe claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect. Network 100may be capable of transmitting data packets among nodes 114 in a networktopology according to an Internet Protocol (IP). However, this is merelyan example of a communication protocol that may be used in thetransmission of all or portions of a digital object from source node 110to destination node 118, and the scope of the claimed subject matter isnot limited in this respect. In the particular embodiment illustrated inFIG. 1, source node 110 and destination node 1 18 may access network 100through the facilities of Internet service providers (ISPs) 110 and/or116. For example, source node 110 and/or destination node 118 maycomprise subscribers of corresponding ISPs that may enable access tonetwork 100 for a subscription fee. However, ISPs 110 and/or 116 aremerely examples of how source node 110 and/or destination node 118 mayaccess network 100, and the scope of the claimed subject matter is notlimited in this respect. It should be noted that there may be one ormore source nodes 110 and one or more destination nodes 118 able tocouple to network 100 via one or more of ISP 112 and/or one or more ofISP 116. Likewise, the number of nodes 114 in network 100 may be zero,and/or one or more, and nodes 114 may be capable of communicating withone or more other of nodes 114, although the scope of the claimedsubject matter is not limited in this respect. Nodes 114 may be referredto in general as intermediaries referring to intermediate locations,devices, and/or paths between source node 110 and destination node 118,although the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in thisrespect. According to an embodiment, nodes 114 and/or ISP 112 and/or 116may comprise one or more routers to forward data packets originating atsource node 110 to destination node 118, although the scope of theclaimed subject matter is not limited in this respect.

According to an embodiment, source node 110 and/or destination node 118,and/or optionally one or more of nodes 114, may comprise any one ofseveral types of devices that are capable of transmitting and/orreceiving digital objects. In one particular example, source node 110and/or destination node 118 may include a communication port (not shown)arranged to transmit data to and/or receive data from one or more of ISP110 and/or 118 through a data transmission medium using one or more ofthe herein mentioned access technologies. In addition to communicationports, source node 110 and/or destination node 118, and/or optionallyone or more of nodes 114, may also comprise a computing platformemploying a processor, one or more memory devices and appropriateinput/output devices for communicating between processes executing onthe processor and communication ports. Such processes executable on acomputing platform may be controlled, at least in part, bymachine-readable instructions stored in one or more memory devices ofthe computing platform. In one particular embodiment, a computingplatform system at source node 110 may execute one or more processes tocreate and/or format a digital object for transmission on network 100.However, this is merely an example of how a source node 110 may createand/or format a digital object for transmission on network 100, and thescope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect. Inanother particular embodiment, a computing platform at destination node118 may execute one or more processes to utilize a digital objectreceived via network 100 through a communication port. However, this ismerely an example of how destination node 118 may process a digitalobject received from network 100, and the scope of the claimed subjectmatter is not limited in this respect.

According to an embodiment, equipment that is owned, leased, controlledand/or operated by owners and/or operators of nodes 114 may transmitdigital objects between ISP 112 and ISP 116. Links coupling nodes 114 toISP 110 and ISP 116 may comprise any one of several data transmissionmediums such as, for example, cabling such as fiber optic, coaxialand/or unshielded twisted wire pair cabling, and/or wirelesstransmission media, for example, using terrestrial and/or satellitebased links. However, these are merely examples of transmission mediathat may be utilized to transmit digital objects in network 100, and thescope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, ISP 110 may transmit a digital object to ISP116 in any one of multiple paths comprising at least one or morecorresponding nodes 114. According to a particular embodiment, ISP 110may transmit a digital object to ISP 116 through any one of nodes 114via any one or more of transmission links that may couple nodes 114.According to a particular embodiment, source node 110 and/or ISP 1112may select a particular one or more of nodes 114 to forward the digitalobject to ISP 116. However, this is merely an example of how aparticular node 114 may be selected for forwarding a digital object fromsource node 110 to destination node 118, and the scope of the claimedsubject matter is not limited in this respect.

According to an embodiment, although the scope of the claimed subjectmatter is not limited in this respect, nodes 114 may route digitalobjects between ISP 112 and ISP 116 in one or more data packetsformatted according to a particular network protocol such as theInternet Protocol (IP).. Such data packets may be forwarded on datalinks connecting nodes 114 and ISP 112 and ISP 116 according to any oneof several data link layer protocols such as, for example, Ethernet,Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Frame Relay and/or Synchronous OpticalNETwork/Sychronous Digital Hierarchy (SONET/SDH) data link protocols. Inembodiments employing wireless communication links, data packets may beforwarded on such wireless communication links according to any one ofseveral wireless data link protocols such as, for example, IEEEStandards 802.11, 802.16 and/or the like, and/or wireless data linkprotocol including, for example, but not limited to, Code DivisionMultiple access (CDMA), Single Carrier Radio Transmission Technology(1xRTT), Enhanced Data for Global Evolution (EDGE), Evolution Data Only(EV-DO), Fast Low-latency Access with Seamless Handoff OrthogonalFrequency Division Multiplexing (Flash-OFDM), General Packet RadioService (GPRS), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and/orUniversal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), and/or the like.However, these are merely examples of data link protocols that may beused to transmit and/or receive data packets in network 100, and thescope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a block diagram of a router in accordance withone or more embodiments will be discussed. The router 200 shown in FIG.2 may be owned, leased and/or operated at a node 114 and/or ISP 112and/or ISP 118 to transmit at least a portion of a digital object todestination node 118 according to an embodiment. Router 200 may includeone or more input ports 210 to receive data packet communicationsaccording to one or more protocols mentioned herein. One or more ofinput ports 210 may be capable of receiving all or at least a portion ofa digital object from ISP 112 originating from source node 110. Router200 may also include one or more output ports 212 to transmit datapacket communications according to one or more of the protocolsmentioned herein. One or more of output ports 212 may be capable oftransmitting all or a portion of a digital object to ISP 116, and thepacket may then be forwarded to one or more destination nodes 118.

According to an embodiment, router 200 may comprise logic to determinehow to forward packets received on input ports 210 to output ports 212.For example, router 200 may determine an output port 212 for forwardinga received data packet based, at least in part, on informationassociated with the received data packet such as, for example, adestination address. According to a particular embodiment, router 200may determine an output port 212 for forwarding the received data packetaccording to one or more look up tables associating destination InternetProtocol (IP) address with output ports 212. However, this is merely anexample of how a router may determine an output port for forwarding adata packet, and the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limitedin this respect. Notwithstanding the existence of a valid destinationaddress associated with a received data packet, according to anembodiment, router 200 may also select whether or not to forward areceived data packet based, at least in part, on information such as thedestination and/or source associated with the data packet, or otherinformation associated with the data packet.

According to an embodiment, the aforementioned logic of router 200 tocontrol routing data packets from an input port 210 to an output port212 may comprise one or more computer systems comprising one or moreprocessors and memory devices. The memory devices may comprisemachine-readable instructions to execute on the one or more processorsfor controlling the routing of data packets. Alternatively, router 200may comprise one or more Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)devices to control routing, and/or combinations of one or more ASICdevices and one or more computer systems to control routing. However,these are merely examples of logic that may be employed in a router forcontrolling the forwarding of data packets and claimed subject matter isnot limited in these respects. In one or more embodiments, router 200may comprise and/or be implemented by one or more computing platforms asdescribed herein, for example as a network interface card and/or aserver adapted to operate at least in part as a router and/or to provideone or more routing functions, although the scope of the claimed subjectmatter is not limited in this respect.

According to an embodiment, one or more of nodes 114 and one or more ofISP 112 and/or ISP 116, for example as shown in FIG. 1, may employ oneand/or more than one router 200 to forward a digital object to adestination node 118. A digital object received from source node 110 ata first router may be forwarded to a second router where both first andsecond routers are owned, leased, controlled and/or operated by nodes114 and/or ISP 112 and/or ISP 116. In such an embodiment, the firstrouter may receive the digital object from ISP 112 and forward thereceived digital object to the second router either directly to thesecond router or via one or more other routing devices. The secondrouter may then forward to ISP 116 the digital object received from thefirst router. However, this is merely an example of how a node as anintermediary may employ multiple routers for forwarding a digital objectfrom a source node to a destination node, and claimed subject matter isnot limited in this respect.

According to an embodiment, one or more of nodes 114 and/or ISP 112and/or ISP 116 may employ Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) accordingto the MPLS Architecture set forth, for example, in Internet EngineeringTask Force (IETF), Network Working Group, RFC 3031, 2001. In such anembodiment, ISP 112 may comprise a label edge router (LER) that iscapable of assigning label values to packets received from source node110 for transmission to destination node 118. One or more routers 200 ofnodes 114 may comprise a Label Switch Router (LSR) to make forwardingdecisions for received data packets based, at least in part, upon labelvalues assigned to the received data packets. At a network hop betweenISP 112 and ISP 116, an LSR associated with one or more of nodes 114 mayremove an existing label of a received data packet and apply a new labelindicating how the next, downstream LSR is to forward the data packet toa destination. Label switch routers coupled to forward a digital objectfrom ISP 112 to ISP 116 may then form a Label Switch Path (LSP)determined, at least in part, according to labels, selected from ahierarchy of labels known as a label stack, assigned to data packetstransporting the digital object at network hops between ISP 112 and ISP116. However, this is merely an example of how a digital object may betransmitted between nodes on a data transmission network using MPLS, andthe scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect.

In one or more embodiments, router 200 may implement routing of packetsand/or data using existing processes, routing tables, and/or MPLS toshape the flow of traffic, optionally without consideration for theobject-based QoS requirements and/or other criteria as it pertains tothe transmission of a particular digital object and/or a series ofobjects. In one or more embodiments, router 200 may implement routing ofpackets and/or data using existing processes, routing tables, and/orMPLS to shape the flow of traffic, optionally including considerationfor the object-based QoS requirements and/or other criteria as itpertains to the transmission of a particular digital object and/or aseries of objects. In one or more embodiments, router 200 may beprogrammed with software and/or firmware to implement routing of packetsand/or data, and in one or more alternative embodiments, router 200 maybe wired and/or utilize switches to implement routing of packets and/ordata at a predetermined QoS based at least in part on packet traffic,although the scope of claimed subject matter is not limited in thisrespect. In one or more embodiments, instructions by which router 200may be arranged to route and/or forward packets may be received from asource external to router 200, and in one or more embodiments, router200 may be arranged to forward predetermined packets and/or digitalobject in a predetermined setting, for example where one of input ports210 may be coupled to one or more output ports 212, which may bearranged, for example, to last for a predetermined period of time,although the scope of claimed subject matter is not limited in thisrespect.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a block diagram of network that may be utilizedto transmit a digital object to two or more nodes and/or destinationnodes in accordance with one or more embodiments will be discussed. Asshown in FIG. 3, source node 110 may transmit a digital object to morethan one destination node 118 coupled to one or more ISPs 116. Likewise,although not shown, destination node and/or nodes 118 may receive adigital object from more than one source node and/or nodes 110. One ormore intermediary nodes 114 may be employed to forward the digitalobject to two or more destination nodes 118. In one or more alternativeembodiments, source node 112 may transmit a digital object in two ormore sets of data packets using multiple intermediaries, for examplewhere there may be more than one destination node and/or where a singlelarger sized object may be split into multiple sub-objects to betransmitted on a separate path and/or paths using a separate criterionand/or criteria, for example QoS, costs, and so on, although the scopeof claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect. According toan embodiment, a digital object formatted for transmission to one ormore of destination nodes 118 may be copied at either ISP 112 or one ormore of nodes 114 and/or one or more of ISP 116 for transmission tomultiple destination nodes 118. An intermediary one or more of nodes 114may comprise one or more routers, such as router 200, for example, toforward data packets to one or more of destination nodes 118.Furthermore, network 100 may employ MPLS and select particular one ormore intermediary nodes 114 for forwarding the digital object to one ormore destination nodes 118.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, a single intermediary node 114 may becapable of forwarding a digital object from ISP 112 to one or moredestination nodes 118 coupled to any of ISPs 116. Likewise, anintermediary node 114 may forward the digital object to multipledestination nodes 118 coupled to all of ISPs 116 by selecting anotherintermediary node 114 through which the digital object may be routed toselected ISPs 116 and then on to selected destination nodes 118,although the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in thisrespect.

In one or more embodiments, network 100 as shown in FIG. 1 and/or FIG. 3may determine a route for transmitting a digital object between a router200 at ISP 112 and a router at ISP 116, a route for transmitting adigital object between a router 200 at one intermediary node 114 and arouter 200 at another intermediary node 114, and/or a route fortransmitting a digital object between a router at an intermediary node114 and ISP 112 and/or ISP 116. When source node 110 is prepared to senda digital object to destination node 118, source node 110 may transmitthe digital object to ISP 112 where the digital object may includeinformation relating to the digital object to be sent. Such informationrelating to the digital object to be sent may be referred to as digitalobject information. Such digital object information may include, forexample, the size of the digital object, for example in megabytes, thepriority of the digital object with respect to a priority of one or moreother digital objects, the time frame in which it may be desired totransmit the digital object, the link quality that may be desiredbetween source node 110 and destination node 118, a quality of service(QoS) that may be desired between source node 112 and destination node118, a latency parameter that may be desired between source node 112 anddestination node 118, the type of information that the digital objectcomprises, for example text data, e-mail data, HTML data, media data,the format of the data file, and so on. In one or more embodiments,digital object information may comprise a digital transmission form(DTF). Such digital transmission form (DTF), for example, may comprisepredefined fields that specify terms of a service request for theservice of transmitting a digital object to a destination node. Suchpredefined fields may be used for providing information to a requestingparty such as, for example, size of the digital object to betransmitted, for example in bits, bytes, cells, packets, and/or thelike, destination address and/or addresses, QoS, compression format,security/encryption, billing account number, and so on. However, theseare merely examples of predefined fields that may be used in a DTF forproviding a service request, and the scope of claimed subject matter isnot limited in these respects. In one or more embodiments, digitalobject information may be incorporated, wholly or at least in part, withthe digital object. For example, digital object information may comprisea header and/or be contained within a header of the digital object. Inone or more alternative embodiments, digital object information may bean object that is separate, wholly or at least in part, from the digitalobject itself. For example, digital object information may be a separaterouting bill and/or stub that contains destination informationpertaining to the digital object, sender information, receivinginformation, quality of service information, routing path information,and so on. In such embodiments, the digital object information may berouted along with the digital object, or alternatively may be routedindependently from the digital object, at least in part, and/or mayfollow a different transmission path along network 100. In one or moreembodiments, digital object information may indicate to one or moredownstream nodes, such as nodes 114, what is coming and/or contained inthe digital object, and/or the requested quality of service, and/or arequest for information from the downstream nodes whether the downstreamnodes can handle the digital object, store the digital object, forwardthe digital object, and so on. In one or more embodiments, the digitalobject information may reach the same destination as the digital object,and in one or more alternative embodiments the digital objectinformation may not actually reach and/or may not be required to reachthe same destination as the digital object. However, these are merelyexamples of how digital object information may be embodied, and thescope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in these respects.

In one or more embodiments, a digital object (DO) may refer to thepayload to be transmitted on network 100, for example a movie file, anda digital transmission file (DTF) may refer to information regarding thedigital object, which may be referred to as digital object information.For example, a digital transmission form may be another object,typically smaller, but not necessarily smaller, than the digital object,and may be an object independent from the digital object itself, thatrepresents the digital object and/or information regarding the digitalobject. In one embodiment, the digital transmission form may comprisemetadata about the digital object, for example size, bid, charges, QoS,routing information, and/or the like. The digital transmission form maytraverse the same path in network 100 as the digital object, and/or thedigital transmission form may traverse a path that is different at leastin part from the digital object. In one or more embodiments, a digitaltransmission form may not be required and/or utilized, for example wherepreexisting agreements and/or prearranged routs may exist to handle theforwarding of the digital object. In other embodiments, a digitaltransmission form may be utilized as an instrument in which bids and/orcosts for forwarding the digital object on network 100 may be utilizedand/or negotiated prior to the transmission of the digital object onnetwork 100. In any given network in certain embodiments, a digitalobject may include a corresponding digital transmission form, and inother embodiments, a digital object may not have a corresponding digitaltransmission form. However, these are merely examples of how a digitaltransmission form may be utilized to transmit a digital object vianetwork 100, and the scope of claimed subject matter is not limited inthese respects.

In one or more embodiments, the digital object may include informationpertaining to a request of a level of service for the delivery of thedigital object to one or more destination nodes 118. For example, thedigital object information may include one or more of a size of theobject to be transmitted, a description of the contents and/or thepayload of the digital object, a requested timeliness of transmittaland/or a time frame in which the digital object is requested to betransmitted, a quality of service (QoS) with which the object isrequested to be transmitted, an amount of money that the sender iswilling to pay for transmission of the digital object, paymentinformation such as credit card information, bank account information,bartering and/or trade information, and or other financial paymentinformation such as PayPal® account information and/or Western Union®payment information, and/or a level of priority with which the digitalobject is to be transmitted, although the scope of the claimed subjectmatter is not limited in this respect.

A router 200 at ISP 112 may, for example, examine the digital objectinformation to determine how and/or when the digital object should betransmitted to one or more destination nodes 118. In one or moreembodiments, source node 110 may provide directly to ISP 112 payment forrequested services for the transmission of the digital object, and thenISP 116 may contract for and/or pay for and/or arrange for thetransmission of the digital object with one more intermediary nodes 114.In such an embodiment, source node 110 may be a customer of ISP 112 whoin turn makes arrangements for providing services to source node 110. Inan alternative embodiment, ISP 112 may forward the digital objectinformation to one or more intermediary nodes 114, which may review therequested service and/or services in the digital object information todetermine whether such intermediary nodes 114 have the capability toprovide the requested services, and/or whether such intermediary nodes114 have a willingness to provide the requested services. Suchcapability and/or willingness may be based, at least in part, on trafficloading at a given intermediary node 114, available bandwidth at a givenintermediary node 114, available quality of service at a givenintermediary node 114, an amount of money that source node 114 iswilling to pay for requested services, a time frame in which a givenintermediary node 114 is capable of receiving and/or forwarding thedigital object, an amount of storage capacity available at a givenintermediary node 114, for example where intermediary node 114 may berequested to store the digital object for a predetermined period, and/orwhether a given intermediary node 114 is capable of receiving the formof payment indicated in the digital object information, for examplewhether a payment by a given credit card is accepted, and/or the like.One or more of intermediary nodes 114 may then provide one or moreresponses back to ISP 112, which in turn forwards the responses tosource node 110. Source node 110 may then decide which node or nodes 114have provided a satisfactory response, and then source node 110 mayindicate to ISP 112 which node and/or nodes 114 that source node 110would like to use to route the digital object to one or more destinationnodes. ISP 112 may then arrange a routing table according to suchindication by source node 110, and then forward the digital objectaccording to the routing table. ISP 112 may charge a fee to source node110 for making such arrangements, and/or intermediary nodes 114 may alsocharge a fee, either to ISP 112 as an intermediary and/or to source node110, for example by charging the fee to one or more of the financialaccounts listed in the digital object information. In such anarrangement, ISP 112 may function as a broker for source node 110. Inyet another embodiment, ISP 112 may merely forward the digital objectinformation on to one or more of intermediary nodes 114, and then sourcenode 110 may directly make arrangements for transmitting the digitalobject with one or more intermediary nodes 114, which may be withminimal and/or no intervention by ISP 112 other than, for example,forwarding information and/or digital objects. In such an embodiment,ISP 112 may provide such services to source node 110 as part of anoverall Internet Service Provider agreement between source node 110 andISP 112. However, these are merely some examples of arrangements betweensource node 110, ISP 112, and/or intermediary nodes 114, and the scopeof the invention is not limited in this respect.

In one or more embodiments, ISP 112 may examine the traffic loadsbetween ISP 112 and one or more intermediary nodes 114, which mayinclude, for example, intermediary nodes 114 that are coupled to orproximately coupled to one or more output ports 212 of router 200. Inone embodiment, for example, when a router 200 at ISP 112 transmits datapackets to routers 200 at nodes 114, routers 200 may transmitinformation regarding the link between ISP 112 and node 114, for examplethe transmission time, latency time, channel information, link quality,error rate, retransmission rate, and/or the load on router 200 nodes114. In general, such information may be referred to as linkinformation. When router 200 of ISP 112 receives such link informationfrom routers 200 downstream nodes 114, router 200 of ISP 112 maydetermine which of nodes 114 are suitable for transmission of thedigital object based from ISP 112 to nodes 114 on at least in part onthe link information and the digital object information. For example, ifthe digital objection information specifies a minimum Quality ofService, ISP 112 may determine which links between ISP 112 and nodes 114will satisfy this minimum Quality of Service based on the linkinformation received from nodes 114, and will transmit the digitalobject to intermediary nodes 114 where the links between ISP 112 andintermediary nodes 114 satisfy the minimum Quality of Service. Likewise,such a process may be implemented by routers 200 in each subsequentintermediary node 114 that receives the digital object forretransmission to another intermediary node 114 as the digital objecttravels via network 10O until the digital object reaches its selecteddestination node 118, although the scope of the claimed subject matteris not limited in this respect.

In one embodiment, routers 200 of ISP 112, and/or ISP 116, and/or nodes116 may include a routing table that specifies where digital objects maybe routed based on the link information between nodes 114, ISP 112,and/or ISP 116. Such routing tables may be periodically updated aspacket loads and related link information between two routers 200 changeover time, based at least in part on changing link information thatrouters 200 receive from other downstream routers 200. Furthermore, therouting tables may be updated based at least in part on the number ofdigital objects received over a given unit time, and/or based at leastin part on the digital object information specified in the digitalinformation objects. As the routing tables are updated, digital objectsreceived by routers 200 may be routed to updated downstream nodes 114according to the updated routing tables, although the scope of theclaimed subject matter is not limited in this respect.

In one or more embodiments, a digital object may be sufficiently largesuch that it may be desirable to split the digital object into one ormore sub-objects, for example at source node 110 and/or at one or moreof intermediary nodes 114, where one or more of the sub-objects may beprovided with its own individual routing requirements, quality ofservice, routing paths, and so on, and where the sub-objects may bereassembled at one or more of intermediary nodes 114 and/or one or moreof destination nodes 118. Such a sub-object concept in one or moreembodiments may be analogous to data transfer utilizing packets, wherethe sub-objects may be at a higher level of organization that a packets,but may be at a lower level of organization that the digital objectitself. For example, a multimedia object may be split into a videosub-object and an audio sub-object, and/or a multimedia object may besplit into a sub-objects corresponding to the scenes contained in themultimedia object, although the scope of claimed subject matter is notlimited in this respect. An example of such a digital object that may besuitable for being split up into one or more smaller objects may bewhere the digital object is a movie. In one or more embodiments, atransmission of such an object may include a multiple input, multipleoutput (MIMO) transmission system and/or a spatial division, multipleaccess system, for example where two or more sub-objects may betransmitted in parallel in two or more links. In one particularembodiment, a network that may be suitable for splitting a digitalobject into one or more sub-objects may comprise at least a portion ofthe network operating in compliance with an Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 type standard such as a WiMax typestandard, although the scope of claimed subject matter is not limited inthis respect.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a flow diagram of a method for routing adigital object in accordance with one or more embodiments will bediscussed. Method 400 as shown in FIG. 4 may include one or more ofblocks 410 through 424 and may be implemented in any order, notnecessarily in the order shown in FIG. 4. Furthermore, an implementationof method 400 may include fewer and/or more blocks than shown in FIG. 4,and the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in thisrespect. In one embodiment, method 400 may be implemented by router 200of any one or more of ISP 112, ISP 116, and/or nodes 114. As an exampleof one embodiment, router 200 of ISP 112 may receive at block 410 adigital object from source node 110 to be transmitted to one or moredestination nodes 118. Router 200 of ISP 112 may read digital objectinformation at block 412 where the digital object information may bestored along with the digital object, including one or more requestedservices as indicated in the digital object information. In one or morealternative embodiments, the digital object information may be storedseparately from the digital object, at least in part, for example as aseparate object, and/or may be transmitted separately from the digitalobject, at least in part, although the scope of the claimed subjectmatter is not limited in this respect. Based on such requested servicesas indicated in the digital object information, router 200 of ISP 112may send the digital object information including the requested servicesto one or more downstream nodes 114 at block 414. Routers 200 ofdownstream nodes 114 may analyze one or more parameters to determinewhether such downstream nodes 114 are capable of providing and/orwilling to provide one or more of the requested services, and thentransmit a service request reply to router 200 of ISP 112, which may bereceived by router 200 of ISP 112 at block 416. Router 200 of ISP 112may then arrange a routing table at block 418 for the transmission ofthe digital object via network 100 to one or more destination nodes 118based at least in part on the service request reply received fromrouters 200 of downstream nodes 114. In one embodiment, router 200 ofISP 112 may arrange the routing table for the entire route, or a partialroute, from source node 110 to one or more destination nodes 118. Insuch an embodiment, the routing table may be arranged in advance basedon one or more current service request replies between nodes 114 ofnetwork 100, wherein the digital object may be transmitted to nodes 114and forwarded to one or more destination nodes 118. The routing tableoptionally may be sent at block 420 to one or more affected nodes 114 toestablish a prearranged transmission path or paths from source node 110to one or more destination nodes 118, and then the digital object may beforwarded to affected nodes 114 along the prearranged transmission pathor paths until the digital object reaches one or more destination nodes118. In alternative embodiment, method 400 may be first implemented byrouter 200 of ISP 112, and then the digital object may be transmitted toa subsequent downstream node 114. Downstream node 114 receives thedigital object, and then router 200 of the downstream node mayindependently execute method 400 from its vantage point, and ifnecessary arrange a new routing table at block 418 if the currentrouting table needs to be updated, or if not necessary, then forwardingthe digital object according to the current routing table to a anotherdownstream node 114 at block 422. Subsequent downstream nodes 114likewise may optionally execute method 400 when those nodes 114 receivea digital object to be forwarded at block 410. In yet anotherembodiment, intermediary nodes 114 may receive updated service requestreplies from one or more downstream nodes 114 periodically and/or as theservice request replies change over time. In such an embodiment, nodes114 that currently have a digital object, or at least one or morepackets thereof, to be forwarded may execute method 400 upon receivingupdated service request replies from downstream nodes 114, upon whichsuch current nodes 114 may update the routing table accordingly.Otherwise, if no updated service request reply is received, such currentnodes 114 may forward the digital object according to the currentrouting table, although the scope of the claimed subject matter is notlimited in this respect. In some or all of the embodiments described,above, the path or paths by which a digital object is transmitted fromsource node 110 to one or more destination nodes may be dynamicallybased at least in part on service request replies received from nodes114 of network 100, and/or may be dynamically updated based at least inpart on changing service request replies received from nodes 114 ofnetwork 100, for example as conditions of network 100 change over time,and also based at least in part on one or more requested servicesindicated in the digital object, and/or a- combination or the requestedservices indicated in the digital object and the service request repliesand/or changing and/or updated service request replies received fromnodes 114 on network 100, although the scope of the claimed subjectmatter is not limited in this respect. Optionally, payment for servicesprovided in receiving and/or forwarding the digital object may bearranged at block 424, for example where source node 110 may pay ISP 112and/or one or more intermediary nodes 114, and/or ISP 112 may pay one ormore intermediary nodes 114, for example, although the scope of theclaimed subject matter is not limited in this respect.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a flow diagram of a method for forwarding adigital object on a network based at least in part on available serviceswhere the available services may be changing over time will bediscussed. Method 500 as shown in FIG. 5 may include one or more ofblocks 510 through 526 and may be implemented in any order, notnecessarily in the order shown in FIG. 5. Furthermore, an implementationof method 500 may include fewer and/or more blocks than shown in FIG. 5,and the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in thisrespect. Method 500 shown in FIG. 5 may be executed by router 200 of ISP112 in one or more embodiments, and may be executed by one or more nodes114 and/or ISP 116 in one or more alternative embodiments. In oneexample embodiment, router 200 of ISP 112 may receive at block 510 adigital object to be forwarded to one or more destination nodes 118.Router 200 of ISP 112 may read at block 512 the digital objectinformation that accompanies the digital object which may include one ormore requested services for the transmission of the digital object onnetwork 100. Router 200 may examine available services at block 514, forexample the available services that ISP 112 and/or one or moredownstream intermediary nodes 114 are capable of providing and/orwilling to provide. A determination may be made at block 516 whether theavailable services have changed from a previous time. In the event theavailable services have changed, router 200 of ISP 112 may update therouting table at block 518 based at least in part on the new availableservices. Otherwise, the current routing table may be used. Router 200of ISP 112 may compare at block 520 the digital object information withthe available services to determine which of ISP 112 arid/or downstreamintermediary nodes 114 are capable of providing and/or willing toprovide the requested services as specified by the digital objectinformation. Router 200 of ISP 112 may then use the routing table atblock 522 to select one or more downstream nodes 114 to which thedigital object may be forwarded, and then router 200 of ISP 112 mayforward the digital object at block 524 to the selected one or moredownstream intermediary nodes 114.

In one embodiment, the routing table as determined by router 200 of ISP112 may be forwarded along with the digital object, for example asdigital object information, wherein downstream nodes 114 may thenforward the digital object to other downstream nodes 114 according tothe routing table established by router 200 of ISP 112. In alternativeembodiment, routers 200 of downstream nodes 114 may independentlyexecute method 500 when such downstream nodes 114 receive the digitalobject to be forwarded at block 510. In such an embodiment, in the eventthe available services from intermediary nodes 114 and/or furtherdownstream intermediary nodes 114 changes, the routing table may beupdated accordingly at block 518, and the digital object may beforwarded via network 100 based on the updated routing table. In afurther alternative embodiment, nodes 114 on network 100 mayperiodically monitor available services such nodes 114 and/or othernodes 114 may provide, wherein such nodes 114 may update their ownrouting tables 114 accordingly, and/or such nodes 114 may monitoravailable services of other downstream intermediary nodes 114, and upondetecting a change in available services, such nodes 114 may updatetheir own routing tables. In such an embodiment, nodes 114 that receivea digital object to be forwarded optionally may not necessarily make adetermination at block 516 whether service quality has changed sincesuch nodes 114 may continually and/or sporadically have already updatedthe routing table when a digital object is received, and in suchembodiments, nodes 114 may forward the digital object according to therouting table currently stored in routers 200 of nodes 114, although thescope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect. Inyet another embodiment, further intermediary downstream nodes 114 maysend information pertaining to available services to upstream nodes 114when the available services change, for example based at least in parton regular traffic on network 114 and/or based at least in part on testpackets and/or other service requests received from other intermediarynodes 114. In such an embodiment, such upstream nodes 114 may receiveavailable services information from downstream nodes 114 withoutrequiring such upstream nodes 114 to request the available servicesinformation. Alternatively, such upstream nodes 114 may requestavailable services information from downstream nodes 114 by optionallymaking a determination at block 516 whether the available services havechanged upon receiving a digital object to be forwarded at block 510,although the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in thisrespect. Optionally, payment for services provided in receiving and/orforwarding the digital object may be arranged at block 526, for examplewhere source node 110 may pay ISP 112 and/or one or more intermediarynodes 114, and/or ISP 112 may pay one or more intermediary nodes 114,for example, although the scope of the claimed subject matter is notlimited in this respect.

Referring now to FIG. 6, a conceptual diagram of the routing of adigital object via a network in accordance with one or more embodimentswill be discussed. As shown in FIG. 6, digital object 600 may originateat source node 110 and may include a payload 610 and/or digital objectinformation 612. Payload 610 may include, for example, the file, code,data, and/or content of digital object 600 that a user at source node110 may desire to deliver to one or more destination nodes 118 as shownin FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, for example. Digital object information 612 mayinclude, an indication of one or more requested services fortransmission of digital object 600 and may further include, for example,the size of the digital object, for example in megabytes, the priorityof the digital object with respect to a priority of one or more otherdigital objects, the time frame in which it may be desired to transmitthe digital object, the link quality that may be desired between sourcenode 110 and destination node 118, a quality of service (QoS) that maybe desired between source node 112 and destination node 118, a latencyparameter that may be desired between source node 112 and destinationnode 118, the type of information that the digital object comprises, forexample text data, e-mail data, HTML data, media data, the format of thedata file, and so on. Digital object information 612 may also include,for example, information about the sender, information about therecipient, information about payload 610, information about cost,payment and/or billing information, and so on. In one or moreembodiments, the digital object information may be stored separatelyfrom the digital object, at least in part, for example as a separateobject, and/or may be transmitted separately from the digital object, atleast in part, although the scope of the claimed subject matter is notlimited in this respect.

In one embodiment, a user at source node 110 may add one or morepayloads 610 to digital object 600, and may also specify digital objectinformation 612 regarding payload 610. Furthermore, digital objectinformation 612 may also be automatically determined based on thecontent, format, and/or other data of payload 610. Source node 110 maythen transmit digital object 600 to ISP 112 via a link (LINK ISP)between source node 110 and ISP 112 for transmission of digital object600 to one or more destination nodes 118 via network 100. ISP 112 mayreceive digital object 600 and add routing table information 614 todigital object 600. In one embodiment, when ISP 112 transmits digitalobject 600 to one or more intermediary nodes 114, digital object 600 mayinclude routing table information 614, for example where routing table614 is appended to digital object 600 and/or where routing tableinformation 614 is added to digital object information 612. Routingtable information 614 may be obtained from routing table 616 of router200, as shown in FIG. 2, of ISP 112. Routing table 616 may be based atleast in part on first service request 620 transmitted from ISP 112 todownstream node 114, which in turn may determine first service requestreply 622 available for a transmission (LINK 1) between ISP 114 anddownstream node 114. One or more downstream nodes may transmit firstservice request reply 622 to ISP 112 which in turn may update routingtable 616 based at least in part on first service request reply 622,which may, for example, available services for LINK 1. Routing tableinformation 614 may then reflect routing table 616, wherein digitalobject 600 may include routing table information 614 that indicates tointermediary nodes 114 the path or paths that digital object 600 shouldtake in network 100. Accordingly, ISP 112 may then forward digitalobject 600 to one or more intermediary nodes 114 based at least in parton the available services for link, LINK 1, between ISP 112 and node114, although the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited inthis respect.

In a similar fashion, when digital object 600 arrives at node 114, node114 may forward digital object 114 to downstream nodes 114 based onrouting table information 614 of digital object 600. In one embodiment,routing table information 614 may be updated based at least in part onrouting table 618. Routing table 618 may be determined at least in parton second service request 624 sent from one node 114 to another node 114via another link, LINK 2. Router 200 of successive downstream node 114may determine second service request reply 626 based at least in part onthe available services for LINK 2, and then transmit second servicerequest reply 626 to upstream node 114 wherein a router 200 of upstreamnode 114 may update routing table 618 based at least in part on secondservice request reply 626. Routing table information 614 may thenreflect routing table 618, wherein digital object 600 may includerouting table information 614 that indicates to intermediary nodes 114the path or paths that digital object 600 should take in network 100.Accordingly, node 114 may then forward digital object 600 to downstreamnode 114 based at least in part on the available services of the link,LINK 2, between node 114 and downstream node 114, although the scope ofthe claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect.

Referring now to FIG. 7, a block diagram of a network for transmitting adigital object from a source node to a destination node where thedestination node requests the digital object to be sent in accordancewith one or more embodiments will be discussed. As shown in FIG. 7,destination node 118 may send service request 700 to source node 110 viaISP 116, intermediary nodes 114, and/or ISP 112 on network 100. Servicerequest 700 may be a request made by destination node 118 to source node110 to transmit digital object 600 from source node 110 to destinationnode 118 based on one or more services. Furthermore, in yet anotherembodiment, any other node such as intermediary nodes and/or proxy nodesacting on behalf of another node such as source node 110, intermediarynodes 114, and/or destination node 118, for example, may request thetransmission of digital object 600. Likewise, source node 110 and/ordestination node 118 may together request and/or otherwise agree to atransfer of digital object 600, for example as a result of a handshakebetween source node 110 and/or destination node 118, and/or between atleast one of source node 11 0 and/or destination node 118, intermediarynodes 114, and/or one or more proxy nodes. In one or more embodiments, ahandshake may refer to a challenge handshake authentication protocol(CHAP) type authentication between a network server and a client device,although the scope of claimed subject matter is not limited in thisrespect. A handshake may occur via direct communication between two ormore nodes, and/or alternatively a handshake may occur via indirectcommunication between two or more nodes, for example using electronicmail. In one or more embodiments, a proxy may refer to a server, node,and/or client device that may operate to provide, implement, processand/or intercept requests on behalf of given other server, node, and/orclient device, and/or to operate interposed between a first server,node, and/or client device and second server, node, and/or other clientdevice. Such a proxy may operate to provide, implement, process, and/orintercept a request on behalf of and/or in lieu of at least one of sucha server, node, and/or client device, and/or may operate as an agent ofat least one of such a server, node, and/or client device, and in one ormore embodiments may appear to other servers, nodes, and/or clientdevices on network 100 as if though it were in fact the server, node,and/or client device for which such a proxy may be acting as an agentthereof. Such a proxy and/or an agent may be implemented on any one ormore of source node 110, ISP 112, intermediary nodes 114, ISP 116,and/or destination-node 118, and/or on other nodes on network 100, oralternatively on a different network than network 100. In one or moreembodiments, such a proxy and/or agent may be utilized to implement oneor more specialized functions as part of the overall process and/orprocesses for transmitting digital object 600 via network 100. Forexample, if digital object 600 were a larger sized object that could bebroken up into one or more smaller sized objects and/or packets for moreefficient transmission, a proxy that specializes such breaking up of adigital object into one or more smaller objects may be utilized. Othersuch specialized functions of a proxy and/or agent may exist, forexample compression, decompression, recombining, billing, charging, andso on. However, these are merely examples of how a proxy and/or agentmay operate on network 100, and the scope of claimed subject matter isnot limited in these respects.

In one embodiment, service request 700 may include, for example, aspecified delivery quality and/or service level. For example, servicerequest 700 may include an indication that digital object 600 betransmitted from source node 110 to destination node 118 at a higherlevel of quality of service. As another example, service request 700 mayinclude an indication that digital object be transmitted at apredetermined time and/or with a predetermined priority. When sourcenode 110 receives service request 700, source node 110 may preparedigital object 600 for delivery to destination node 118, for example byadding one or more payloads 610 to digital object 600, and/or by addingdigital object information 612 to digital object 600 where digitalobject information 612 may be based at least in part on service request700. Source node 110 then transmits digital object 600 to ISP 112.Router 200 of ISP 112 may send service request 700 to one or moreintermediary nodes 114 on network 100 to determine which path and/orpaths may be suitable for transmission of digital object 600 todestination node 118 based at least in part on digital objectinformation 612 contained in digital object 600, which it turn may bebased at least in part on service request 700. ISP 112 may obtain firstservice request reply 622 from one or more nodes 114, where firstservice request reply 622 may include available services information fora link between ISP 112 and one or more of nodes 114, and/or availableservices information for a link between one or more of nodes 114 ofnetwork 100. In general, link information may be any type of digitalobject information. In one or more embodiments, the digital objectinformation may be stored separately from the digital object, at leastin part, for example as a separate object, and/or may be transmittedseparately from the digital object, at least in part, although the scopeof the claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect. ISP 112may then arrange a routing table 616 based at least in part on firstservice request reply 622 and digital object information 612 reflectingat least in part service request 700, and then ISP 112 may add routingtable information 614 to digital object 600. In one or more embodiments,a digital transmission form may be utilized for routing tableinformation 614, and/or alternatively a digital transmission form may beutilized in lieu of routing table information 614, and/or in combinationwith routing table information 614. In one or more embodiments, routingtable information 614 may comprise a digital transmission form. ISP 112may then transmit digital object 600 via intermediary nodes 114 ofnetwork 100 based at least in part on routing table information 614until digital object reaches ISP 116 which may then transmit digitalobject 600 to destination node 118, although the scope of the claimedsubject matter is not limited in this respect.

Referring now to FIG. 8, a flow diagram of a method for transmitting adigital object from a source node to a destination node where thedestination node requests the digital object to be sent in accordancewith one or more embodiments will be discussed. Method 800 as shown inFIG. 8 may include one or more of blocks 810 through 830 and may beimplemented in any order, not necessarily in the order shown in FIG. 4.Furthermore, an implementation of method 800 may include fewer and/ormore blocks than shown in FIG. 8, and the scope of the claimed subjectmatter is not limited in this respect. As shown for example with respectto FIG. 7, method 800 of FIG. 8 may be implemented via network 100 suchas shown for example in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, and may be executed vianetwork 100 as shown in and described with respect to FIG. 8. At block810, destination node 118 may send to source node 110 service request700 for digital object 600 to be transmitted from source node 110 todestination node 118. Service request 700 sent by destination node 118may include, for example, information specifying a desired level and/orquality of service. When source node 110 receives service request 700from destination node 118, source node 110 may prepare digital object600 at block 812 for transmission to destination node 118 based at leastin part on information contained in service request 700, for example byadding one or more payloads 610 to digital object 600. At block 814,source node 110 may transmit digital object 600 to ISP 112 where digitalobject 600 may include digital object information 612 that is based atleast in part on information contained in service request 700 such as,for example, a desired level and/or quality of service specified bysource node 118. In one or more embodiments, the digital objectinformation may be stored separately from the digital object, at leastin part, for example as a separate object, and/or may be transmittedseparately from the digital object, at least in part, although the scopeof the claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect. ISP 112receives digital object 600, and at block 816 ISP 112 may determine theavailable services from one or more intermediary nodes 114 of network100. Based at least in part on the determined available services, ISP112 at block 818 may determine a routing table 616 based at least inpart on the determined available services and/or the desired leveland/or quality of service specified by source node 118 in servicerequest 700 that may be reflected at least in part by digital objectinformation 612 of digital object 600. At block 820, ISP 112 may addrouting table information 614 to digital object 600 where routing tableinformation 614 may reflect at least in part routing table 616.

When routing table information 614 is added to digital object 600, atleast one or more predetermined paths on network 100 may be specified byrouting table information 614 to allow digital object 600 to beforwarded to destination node 118. ISP 112 may transmit digital object600 at block 822 to one or more intermediary nodes 114 of network 100based at least in part on routing table information 614. An intermediarynode or nodes that receive digital object 600 or at least a portionand/or a packet thereof, may forward digital object 600 at block 824 toanother node or nodes 114 on network 100 based at least in part onrouting table information 614 contained in digital object 600 untildigital object 600 reaches destination node 118 at block 828.Optionally, at block 826, one or more intermediary nodes 114 may updaterouting table information 614 of digital object 600 if the availableservices change during transmission, where updated routing tableinformation 614 may reflect at least in part any change and/or changesto the available services, for example an available quality of serviceof transmission between any two or more nodes 114, although the scope ofthe claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect. Optionally,payment for services provided in receiving and/or forwarding the digitalobject may be arranged at block 830, for example where source node 110may pay ISP 112 and/or one or more intermediary nodes 114, and/or ISP112 may pay one or more intermediary nodes 114, for example, althoughthe scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect.

Referring now to FIG. 9, a wireless network in accordance with or moreembodiments will be discussed. Wireless network 900 may comprise, forexample, a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless wide areanetwork (WWAN), wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN), wirelesspersonal area network (PAN), and/or a cellular telephone network. Inwireless network 900 shown in FIG. 9, client 910 may be for example amobile or remote unit such as a mobile computer and/or informationhandling system, a desktop computer, and/or a cellular telephone, forexample. Client 910 may include a transceiver 912, and/or a transmitter(TX) and/or a receiver (RX) that may comprise an analog front end and/orradio circuitry to couple to antenna 918. Client 910 may include aprocessor 914 to provide baseband and/or media access control (MAC)processing functions. In one embodiment, processor 914 may comprise asingle processor, and/or alternatively may comprise a baseband processorand/or an applications processor and/or a digital signal processor,although the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in thisrespect. Processor 914 may couple to memory 916 which may includevolatile memory such as dynamic random-access memory (DRAM),non-volatile memory such as flash memory, and/or alternatively mayinclude other types of storage such as a hard disk drive or optical diskdrive, although the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limitedin this respect. Memory 916 or a portion thereof may be included on thesame integrated circuit as processor 914, and/or alternatively memory916 or a portion thereof may be disposed on an integrated circuit and/orother medium, for example a hard disk drive, that is external to theintegrated circuit of processor 914, although the scope of the claimedsubject matter is not limited in this respect.

Client 910 may communicate with access point 922 via wirelesscommunication link 932, where access point 922 may include at least oneantenna 920, transceiver 924, processor 926, and/or memory 928. In analternative embodiment, access point 922 and/or optionally client 910may include two or more antennas 918 and/or 920, for example to providea spatial division multiple access (SDMA) system and/or a multipleinput, multiple output (MIMO) system, although the scope of the claimedsubject matter is not limited in this respect. Access point 922 maycouple with network 100 which may be the same network as shown in FIG.1, FIG. 3, FIG. 6, and/or FIG. 7 for example, so that client 910 maycommunicate with network 100, including communicating with devicesand/or nodes 114 coupled to network 100, by communicating with accesspoint 922 via wireless communication link 932. Network 100 may include,for example, a public network such as a telephone network and/or theInternet, and/or alternatively network 100 may include a private networksuch as an intranet, and/or a combination of a public and/or a privatenetwork, although the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limitedin this respect. Communication between client 910 and/or access point922 may be implemented via a wireless personal area network (WPAN)standard such as a network in compliance with the WiMedia Alliance,and/or a wireless local area network (WLAN) and/or a wireless wide areanetwork (WWAN), for example a network compliant with an Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard such as IEEE802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11n, (collectively known as WiFi), IEEE802.16 (known as WiMax), HiperLAN-II, HiperMAN, Ultra-Wideband (UWB),and so on, although the scope of the claimed subject matter is notlimited in this respect. In another embodiment, communication betweenclient 910 and/or access point 922 may be at least partially implementedvia a cellular communication network compliant with a Third GenerationPartnership Project (3GPP or 3G) standard, a Wideband CDMA (WCDMA)standard, Code Division Multiple access (CDMA), Single Carrier RadioTransmission Technology (1xRTT), Enhanced Data for Global Evolution(EDGE), Evolution Data Only (EV-DO), Fast Low-latency Access withSeamless Handoff Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing(Flash-OFDM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Global System forMobile Communications (GSM), and/or Universal Mobile TelecommunicationsSystem (UMTS), and/or the like, although the scope of the claimedsubject matter is not limited in this respect. In one or moreembodiments, client 910 may correspond to source node 110 and/ordestination node 118. Likewise, access point 922 may correspond to ISP112 and/or ISP 116, and/or one or more of nodes 114. In one particularembodiment, access point 922 may be implemented in router 200 whererouter 200 may be a wireless router and/or wireless access point, forexample. Similarly, access point 922 may be a base station of a cellulartelephone network, for example Node B equipment of a UMTS Radio AccessNetwork (RAN) and/or UMTS terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN).However, these are merely examples of a wireless network, and the scopeof the claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect.

Referring now to FIG. 10, a flow diagram of a method for routing two ormore digital objects in accordance with one or more embodiments will bediscussed. Method 1000 as shown in FIG. 10 may include one or more ofblocks 1010 through 1026 and may be implemented in any order, notnecessarily in the order shown in FIG. 10. Furthermore, animplementation of method 1000 may include fewer and/or more blocks thanshown in FIG. 10, and the scope of the claimed subject matter is notlimited in this respect. In one embodiment, ISP 112 may receive a firstdigital object at block 1010 to be transmitted via network 100 to one ormore destination nodes 118. ISP 112 may also receive a second digitalobject at block 1012 also to be transmitted via network 100 to one ormore destination nodes 118, which may be the same destination nodes 118in whole or in part that the first digital object is to be transmittedto, and/or one or more other destination nodes 118. ISP 112 may receivethe second digital object from the same source node 110 it receives thefirst digital object from, or it may receive the second digital objectfrom another source node 110. In an alternative embodiment, one or moresource nodes 114 and/or another ISP 116 may also implement method 1000in the like manner as ISP 112. At block 1014, ISP 112 may determineavailable services that ISP 112 may provide itself, and/or availableservices that one or more nodes 114 on network 100 may provide. If theavailable services have changed from a previous query of availableservices, router 200 of ISP 112 may update one or more routing tablesaccordingly at block 1016. At block 1018, ISP 112 may compare thedigital object information of the first digital object, the digitalobject information of the second digital object, and/or the availableservices. Optionally, at block 1020 ISP 112 may also compare therequested services, such as the priority and/or quality of service,specified in the digital object information of the first digital objectwith the requested services specified in the digital object informationof the second digital object. In one or more embodiments, the digitalobject information may be stored separately from the digital object, atleast in part, for example as a separate object, and/or may betransmitted separately from the digital object, at least in part,although the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in thisrespect. At block 1022, ISP 112 may arrange one or more routing tablesfor the first digital object and/or the second digital object based onthe comparison of block 1018 and/or based on the requested services atblock 1020 in view of the available services determined at block 1014.In one embodiment, if the level of requested services of one digitalobject is greater than the level of requested services of the otherdigital object, the digital object having the higher level of requestedservices may be assigned a transmission path on network 100 having ahigher level of available services. In another embodiment, if the levelof requested services of one digital object is the same as and/orcomparable to the level of requested services of the other digitalobject, then the two or more digital objects may be assigned the sameand/or similar transmission path in network 100 having the same level ofrequested services. In another embodiment, two or more digital objectsmay be assigned different transmission paths in network 100, and may beassigned different routing tables. At block 1024, ISP 112 may forwardthe first digital object and the second digital object based at least inpart on the routing tables assigned to the digital objects, and/or basedat least in part on the determined available services on network 100.Optionally, payment for services provided in receiving and/or forwardingthe digital object may be arranged at block 1026, for example wheresource node 110 may pay ISP 112 and/or one or more intermediary nodes114, and/or ISP 112 may pay one or more intermediary nodes 114, forexample, although the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limitedin this respect. However, these are merely examples of how two or moredigital objects may be routed via network 100, and the scope of theclaimed subject matter is not limited in this respect.

Although the claimed subject matter has been described with a certaindegree of particularity, it should be recognized that elements thereofmay be altered by persons skilled in the art without departing from thespirit and/or scope of the claimed subject matter. It is believed thatdigital object routing based on a service request and/or many of itsattendant advantages will be understood by the forgoing description, andit will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form,construction and/or arrangement of the components thereof withoutdeparting from the scope and/or spirit of the claimed subject matter orwithout sacrificing all of its material advantages, the form hereinbefore described being merely an explanatory embodiment thereof, and/orfurther without providing substantial change thereto. It is theintention of the claims to encompass and/or include such changes.

1. A method, comprising: receiving a digital object to be forwarded on anetwork, the digital object including at least one requested service;determining an availability of one or more nodes on the network toprovide the at least one requested service; and routing the digitalobject on the network based at least in part on the availability of theone or more nodes to provide the at least one requested service.
 2. Amethod as claimed in claim 1, further comprising arranging a routingtable based at least in part on the availability of the one or morenodes to provide the at least one requested service and/or on the atleast one requested service.
 3. A method as claimed in claim 1, furthercomprising arranging a routing table based at least in part on theavailability of the one or more nodes to provide the at least onerequested service and/or on the at least one requested service, andadding routing table information to the digital object.
 4. A method asclaimed in claim 1, further comprising determining whether there is achange in the availability of one or more nodes on the network toprovide the at least one requested service, and if so then arranging arouting table based at least in part on the change.
 5. A method asclaimed in claim 1, further comprising sending the at least onerequested service to one or more downstream nodes, receiving a servicerequest reply from at least one or more of the or more downstream nodes,and arranging a routing table based at least on part on the servicerequest reply received from at least one or more of the one or moredownstream nodes.
 6. A method as claimed in claim 1, said routingincluding forwarding the digital object to one or more of the nodescoupled to a link on the network that may provide the at least onerequested service, and arranging payment for the at least one requestedservice.
 7. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least onerequested service information is stored separately from the digitalobject, and is transmitted on the network separately from the digitalobject.
 8. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one of saidreceiving, said determining, or said routing, or any combinationthereof, is performed at least in part by at least one of a proxy, anagent, or a service provider, or any combination thereof.
 9. A method,comprising: receiving a request from a destination node to transmit adigital object from a source node to the destination node via a network,the request including at least one requested service; adding a payloadto the digital object; adding the at least one requested service to thedigital object; and forwarding the digital object according to the atleast one requested service.
 10. A method as claimed in claim 9, furthercomprising determining an availability of one or more nodes on thenetwork to provide the at least one requested service, and arranging arouting table for the digital object based at least in part on theavailability of the one or more nodes to provide the at least onerequested service and/or on the at least one requested service.
 11. Amethod as claimed in claim 9, further comprising determining anavailability of one or more nodes on the network to provide the at leastone requested service, and arranging a routing table for the digitalobject based at least in part on at the availability of the one or morenodes to provide the at least one requested service and/or on the atleast one requested service, and adding routing table information to thedigital object.
 12. A method as claimed in claim 9, further comprisingdetermining whether there is a change in the availability of the one ormore nodes to provide the at least one requested service, and if so thenarranging a routing table based at least in part on the change.
 13. Amethod as claimed in claim 9, further comprising sending the at leastone requested service to one or more downstream nodes, receiving aservice request reply from at least one or more of the one or moredownstream nodes, and arranging a routing table based at least on parton the service request reply received from at least one or more of theone or more downstream nodes.
 14. A method as claimed in claim 9, saidforwarding including forwarding the digital object to one or more of thenodes coupled to a link on the network that may provide the at least onerequested service, and arranging payment for the at least one requestedservice.
 15. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein requested serviceinformation is stored separately from the digital object, and istransmitted on the network separately from the digital object.
 16. Amethod as claimed in claim 9, wherein at least one of said receiving,said adding a payload, said adding the at least one requested service,or said forwarding, or any combination thereof, is performed at least inpart by at least one of a proxy, an agent, or a service provider, or anycombination thereof.
 17. An apparatus, comprising: means for receiving adigital object to be forwarded on a network, the digital objectincluding at least one requested service; means for determining anavailability of one or more nodes on the network to provide the at leastone requested service; and means for routing the digital object on thenetwork based at least in part on the availability of the one or morenodes to provide the at least one requested service.
 18. An apparatus asclaimed in claim 17, further comprising means for arranging a routingtable based at least in part on the availability of the one or morenodes to provide the at least one requested service and/or on the atleast one requested service.
 19. An apparatus as claimed in claim 17,further comprising means for arranging a routing table based at least inpart on the availability of the one or more nodes to provide the atleast one requested service and/or on the at least one requestedservice, and means for adding routing table information to the digitalobject.
 20. An apparatus as claimed in claim 17, further comprisingmeans for determining whether there is a change in the availability ofone or more nodes on the network to provide the at least one requestedservice, and means for arranging a routing table based at least in parton the change when said means for determining determines there is achange.
 21. An apparatus as claimed in claim 17, further comprisingmeans for sending the at least one requested service to one or moredownstream nodes, means for receiving a service request reply from atleast one or more of the one or more downstream nodes, and means forarranging a routing table based at least on part on the service requestreply received from at least one or more of the one or more downstreamnodes.
 22. An apparatus as claimed in claim 17, said means for routingto forward the digital object to one or more of the nodes coupled to alink on the network that may provide the at least one requested service,and further comprising means for arranging payment for the at least onerequested service.
 23. An apparatus as claimed in claim 17, furthercomprising means for storing at least one requested service informationseparately from the digital object, and means for transmitting the atleast one requested service information on the network separately fromthe digital object.
 24. An apparatus as claimed in claim 17, wherein atleast one of said means for receiving, said means for determining, orsaid means for routing, or any combination thereof, comprises at leastin part at least one of a proxy, an agent, or a service provider, or anycombination thereof.
 25. An apparatus, comprising: means for receiving arequest from a destination node to transmit a digital object from asource node to the destination node via a network, the request includingat least one requested service; means for adding a payload to thedigital object; means for adding the at least one requested service tothe digital object; and means for forwarding the digital objectaccording to the at least one requested service.
 26. An apparatus asclaimed in claim 25, further comprising means for determining anavailability of one or more nodes on the network to provide the at leastone requested service, and means for arranging a routing table for thedigital object based at least in part on the availability of the one ormore nodes to provide the at least one requested service and/or on theat least one requested service.
 27. An apparatus as claimed in claim 25,further comprising means for determining an availability of one or morenodes on the network to provide the at least one requested service,means for arranging a routing table for the digital object based atleast in part on the availability of the one or more nodes to providethe at least one requested service and/or on the at least one requestedservice, and means for adding routing table information to the digitalobject.
 28. An apparatus as claimed in claim 25, further comprisingmeans for determining whether there is a change in the availability ofthe one or more nodes to provide the at least one requested service, andmeans for arranging a routing table based at least in part on the changewhen said means for determining whether there is a changer determinesthere is a change.
 29. An apparatus as claimed in claim 25, furthercomprising means for sending the at least one requested service to oneor more downstream nodes, means for receiving a service request replyfrom at least one or more of the one or more downstream nodes, and meansfor arranging a routing table based at least on part on the servicerequest reply received from at least one or more of the one or moredownstream nodes.
 30. An apparatus as claimed in claim 25, said meansfor forwarding to forward the digital object to one or more of the nodescoupled to a link on the network that may provide the at least onerequested service, and further comprising means for arranging paymentfor the at least one requested service.
 31. An apparatus as claimed inclaim 25, further comprising means for storing requested serviceinformation separately from the digital object, and means fortransmitting the requested service information on the network separatelyfrom the digital object.
 32. An apparatus as claimed in claim 25,wherein at least one of said means for receiving, said means for addinga payload, said means for adding the at least one requested service, orsaid means for forwarding, or any combination thereof, comprises atleast in part at least one of a proxy, an agent, or a service provider,or any combination thereof.
 33. An apparatus comprising a computingplatform, the computing platform being adapted to: receive a digitalobject to be forwarded on a network, the digital object including atleast one requested service; determine an availability of one or morenodes on the network to provide the at least one requested service; androute the digital object on the network based at least in part on theavailability of the one or more nodes to provide the at least onerequested service.
 34. An apparatus as claimed in claim 33, thecomputing platform being further adapted to arrange a routing tablebased at least in part on the availability of the one or more nodes toprovide the at least one requested service and/or on the at least onerequested service.
 35. An apparatus as claimed in claim 33, thecomputing platform being further adapted to arrange a routing tablebased at least in part on the availability of the one or more nodes toprovide the at least one requested service and/or on the at least onerequested service, and to add routing table information to the digitalobject.
 36. An apparatus as claimed in claim 33, the computing platformbeing further adapted to determine whether there is a change in theavailability of one or more nodes on the network to provide the at leastone requested service, and if so to arrange a routing table based atleast in part on the change.
 37. An apparatus as claimed in claim 33,the computing platform being further adapted to send the at least onerequested service to one or more downstream nodes, to receive a servicerequest reply from one or more of the at least one or more downstreamnodes, and to arrange a routing table based at least on part on theservice request reply received from at least one or more of the one ormore downstream nodes.
 38. An apparatus as claimed in claim 33, thecomputing platform being further adapted to forward the digital objectto one or more of the nodes coupled to a link on the network that mayprovide the at least one requested service, and to arrange payment forthe at least one requested service.
 39. An apparatus as claimed in claim33, the computing platform being further adapted to store at least onerequested service information stored separately from the digital object,and being further adapted to transmit the at least one requested serviceinformation on the network separately from the digital object.
 40. Anapparatus as claimed in claim 33, the computing platform being adaptedto perform at least one of said receiving, said determining, or saidrouting, or any combination thereof, at least in part as at least one ofa proxy, an agent, or a service provider, or any combination thereof.41. An apparatus comprising a computing platform, the computing platformbeing adapted to: receive a request from a destination node to transmita digital object from a source node to the destination node via anetwork, the request including at least one requested service; add apayload to the digital object; add the at least one requested service tothe digital object; and forward the digital object according to the atleast one requested service.
 42. An apparatus as claimed in claim 41,the computing platform being further adapted to determine anavailability of one or more nodes on the network to provide the at leastone requested service, and to arrange a routing table for the digitalobject based at least in part on the availability of the one or morenodes to provide the at least one requested service and/or on the atleast one requested service.
 43. An apparatus as claimed in claim 41,the computing platform being further adapted to determine anavailability of one or more nodes on the network to provide the at leastone requested service, to arrange a routing table for the digital objectbased at least in part on the availability of the one or more nodes toprovide the at least one requested service and/or on the at least onerequested service, and to add routing table information to the digitalobject.
 44. An apparatus as claimed in claim 41, the computing platformbeing further adapted to determine whether there is a change in theavailability of the one or more nodes to provide the at least onerequested service, and if so to arrange a routing table based at leastin part on the change.
 45. An apparatus as claimed in claim 41, thecomputing platform being further adapted to send the at least onerequested service to one or more downstream nodes, to receive a servicerequest reply from at least one or more of the one or more downstreamnodes, and to arrange a routing table based at least on part on theservice request reply received from at least one or more of the one ormore downstream nodes.
 46. An apparatus as claimed in claim 41, thecomputing platform being further adapted to forward the digital objectto one or more of the nodes coupled to a link on the network that mayprovide the at least one requested service, and to arrange payment forthe at least one requested service.
 47. An apparatus as claimed in claim41, the computing platform being further adapted to store requestedservice information separately from the digital object, and beingfurther adapted to transmit the requested service information on thenetwork separately from the digital object.
 48. An apparatus as claimedin claim 41, the computing platform being adapted to perform at leastone of said receiving, said adding a payload, said adding the at leastone requested service, or said forwarding, or any combination thereof,at least in part as at least one of a proxy, an agent, or a serviceprovider, or any combination thereof.
 49. An article of manufacturecomprising a storage medium having stored thereon instructions that,when executed by a computing platform, result in the routing of adigital object by: receiving a digital object to be forwarded on anetwork, the digital object including at least one requested service;determining an availability of one or more nodes on the network toprovide the at least one requested service; and routing the digitalobject on the network based at least in part on the availability of theone or more nodes to provide the at least one requested service.
 50. Anarticle of manufacture as claimed in claim 49, wherein the instructions,when executed, further result in the routing of a digital object byarranging a routing table based at least in part on the availability ofthe one or more nodes to provide the at least one requested serviceand/or on the at least one requested service.
 51. An article ofmanufacture as claimed in claim 49, wherein the instructions, whenexecuted, further result in the routing of a digital object by arranginga routing table based at least in part on the availability of the one ormore nodes to provide the at least one requested service and/or on theat least one requested service, and adding routing table information tothe digital object.
 52. An article of manufacture as claimed in claim49, wherein the instructions, when executed, further result in therouting of a digital object by determining whether there is a change inthe availability of one or more nodes on the network to provide the atleast one requested service, and if so then arranging a routing tablebased at least in part on the change.
 53. An article of manufacture asclaimed in claim 49, wherein the instructions, when executed, furtherresult in the routing of a digital object by sending the at least onerequested service to one or more downstream nodes, receiving a servicerequest reply from at least one or more of the one or more downstreamnodes, and arranging a routing table based at least on part on theservice request reply received from at least one or more of the one ormore downstream nodes.
 54. An article of manufacture as claimed in claim49, wherein the instructions, when executed, further result in therouting of a digital object by forwarding the digital object to one ormore of the nodes coupled to a link on the network that may provide theat least one requested service, and in the arranging of payment for theat least one requested service.
 55. An article of manufacture as claimedin claim 49, wherein the instructions, when executed, further result inat least one requested service information being stored separately fromthe digital object, and the at least one requested service informationbeing transmitted on the network separately from the digital object. 56.An article of manufacture as claimed in claim 49, wherein theinstructions, when executed, further result in at least one of saidreceiving, said determining, or said routing, or any combinationthereof, being performed at least in part by at least one of a proxy, anagent, or a service provider, or any combination thereof.
 57. An articleof manufacture comprising a storage medium having stored thereoninstructions that, when executed by a computing platform, result in therouting of a digital object by: receiving a request from a destinationnode to transmit a digital object from a source node to the destinationnode via a network, the request including at least one requestedservice; adding a payload to the digital object; adding the at least onerequested service to the digital object; and forwarding the digitalobject according to the at least one requested service.
 58. An articleof manufacture as claimed in claim 57, wherein the instructions, whenexecuted, further result in the routing of a digital object bydetermining an availability of one or more nodes on the network toprovide the at least one requested service, and arranging a routingtable for the digital object based at least in part on the availabilityof the one or more nodes to provide the at least one requested serviceand/or on the at least one requested service.
 59. An article ofmanufacture as claimed in claim 57, wherein the instructions, whenexecuted, further result in the routing of a digital object bydetermining an availability of one or more nodes on the network toprovide the at least one requested service, and arranging a routingtable for the digital object based at least in part on the availabilityof the one or more nodes to provide the at least one requested serviceand/or on the at least one requested service, and adding routing tableinformation to the digital object.
 60. An article of manufacture asclaimed in claim 57, wherein the instructions, when executed, furtherresult in the routing of a digital object by determining whether thereis a change in the availability of the one or more nodes to provide theat least one requested service, and if so then arranging a routing tablebased at least in part on the change.
 61. An article of manufacture asclaimed in claim 57, wherein the instructions, when executed, furtherresult in the routing of a digital object by sending the at least onerequested service to one or more downstream nodes, receiving a servicerequest reply from at least one or more of the one or more downstreamnodes, and arranging a routing table based at least on part on theservice request reply received from at least one or more of the one ormore downstream nodes.
 62. An article of manufacture as claimed in claim57, wherein the instructions, when executed, further result in therouting of a digital object by forwarding the digital object to one ormore of the nodes coupled to a link on the network that may provide theat least one requested service, and in the arranging of payment for theat least one requested service.
 63. An article of manufacture as claimedin claim 57, wherein the instructions, when executed, further result inrequested service information being stored separately from the digitalobject, and being transmitted on the network separately from the digitalobject.
 64. An article of manufacture as claimed in claim 57, whereinthe instructions, when executed, further result in at least one of saidreceiving, said adding a payload, said adding the at least one requestedservice, or said forwarding, or any combination thereof, being performedat least in part by at least one of a proxy, an agent, or a serviceprovider, or any combination thereof.